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• The national mixed doubles Olympic curling trials got underway in Portage la Prairie, Man., this morning. Eighteen pairs of male and female curlers are vying to represent Canada at the event’s Olympic debut in Pyeongchang next month. Each pair will play eight round-robin matches between today and Thursday; the eight-team playoffs start Friday. The only conspicuous absentees from the field are Kevin Koe, Rachel Homan and their respective teammates, since they’re already slated to curl for Canada in the men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments.

Denis Shapovalov plays a backhand against Kyle Edmund at the Brisbane International on Jan. 2.Bradley Kanaris /
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• Denis Shapovalov dropped his first match of 2018 at the Brisbane International today. The 18-year-old Canadian lost 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 4-6 to Britain’s Kyle Edmund at the Australian Open tune-up tournament, marking the first time Edmund, the world No. 50 to Shapovalov’s No. 51, has beaten him in three attempts. Milos Raonic will open his season in Brisbane tomorrow at 4 a.m. ET against 18-year-old Australian Alex De Minaur.

Canada’s Vasek Pospisil and Eugenie Bouchard are each 0-1 in singles play at the Hopman Cup, a team tournament in Perth, though they won a doubles match against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis and Daria Gavrilova on Sunday. They return to the court at 9 p.m. ET tonight for a three-match series against Germany. Bouchard is to face Angelique Kerber and Pospisil will take on Alexander Zverev, followed by a doubles confrontation.

Andy Murray, meantime, withdrew from Brisbane today because of the hip injury that has sidelined him since July. He plans to stay in town for a few days before deciding to enter or skip the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 15. Garbine Muguruza, the No. 2-ranked women’s player, retired from her first match in Brisbane today because of calf cramps.

Garbine Muguruza lies on the court before retiring from her first match at the Brisbane International on Jan. 2.Franca Tigani /
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• USA Hockey revealed its men’s and women’s Olympic rosters at the NHL Winter Classic in Buffalo yesterday. Longtime Devils, Canadiens and Sabres forward Brian Gionta will captain the men’s team, which features 15 players with NHL experience, though defenceman James Wisniewski is his only teammate with comparable name recognition. Women’s captain Meghan Duggan leads a team with 10 returnees from Sochi 2014, where Canada beat the U.S. for the gold medal in overtime.

Hockey Canada is expected to announce its men’s Olympic roster on Jan. 11, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported last month. The women’s team, which includes 14 returning players from 2014, was unveiled Dec. 22.

• American college football will have a new national champion this season. Alabama stifled top-seeded Clemson 24-6 last night in the Sugar Bowl, a rematch of the last two titles games. The Crimson Tide will face Georgia for the championship next Monday, after the Bulldogs staged a rousing second-half comeback and beat Oklahoma 54-48 in double overtime yesterday in the Rose Bowl.

• Andy Dalton’s charitable foundation has reported a $100,000 influx in donations since Sunday — thanks to Bills fans overjoyed that the Bengals quarterback helped break their team’s 17-year playoff drought. Dalton threw a 49-yard touchdown pass in the final minute to key a 31-27 win over the Ravens, who would have nipped Buffalo for the AFC’s last wild-card spot had they won. Dalton’s foundation helps families with ill or physically challenged children in the Cincinnati area.

• The Maple Leafs will hold a public memorial service at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow for Johnny Bower, the Hall of Fame goalie who died last week at age 93. Bower’s grandson, Johnny Bower III, and team president Brendan Shanahan will speak at the service, while Leaf legends Ron Ellis, Dave Keon and Frank Mahovlich will all be in attendance. Doors open at 2 p.m. ET for the 3 p.m. ceremony. Instead of flowers, mourners are asked to conisder donating to Credit Valley Hospital or to the Mississauga Humane Society in Mississauga, Ont.

Nutritional analysis

The Vegas Golden Knights will step on the ice at home tonight with the second-best record in the NHL. Closing on the halfway mark of the season, Vegas is easily the most successful expansion franchise since the league doubled in size for the 1967-68 season.

Nearly everyone who watches the NHL has been waiting for the Knights to revert to the normal profile of an expansion team — which is to say, mediocre to bad. This far into the season, they won’t suddenly become bad, but mediocrity is always within reach of every team, expansion or not.

A quick way to check in with a team’s expected record is to calculate its Pythagorean win percentage based on its goal differential. Pythagorean win expectation is a simple formula that can be used for almost any team or league, with an adjustment based on the nature of points scored in that league. Basketball’s adjustment is larger than baseball or hockey because of the volume of points scored.

Using a standard exponent of 2.1 for hockey, we can chart the most recent 22 NHL expansion teams by their actual win percentage and their expected win percentage. (To adjust for the ties vs. overtime losses eras, ties are counted as 0.5 wins and 0.5 losses, while overtime losses are counted as losses. The extra standings point is meaningless for this exercise.)

The blue line represents values that are equal on both sides. Anyone below the blue line outperformed their goal differential, while those above the line underperformed.

A number of teams fall very close to the line, like the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, who had a win percentage of .1312 and an expected win percentage of .1308. The 2000-01 Minnesota Wild came within .0008 percentage points of their expectation.

The team with the largest gap, however, is Vegas. Their win percentage of .7027 far outperforms their expected percentage of .6150. Their goal-scoring profile would expect them to have 22.8 wins now, not 26. Rounding off to 48 points (with an expected record of 23-12-2), the Knights would still be in second place in the Pacific Division, but they would only be fifth overall in the Western Conference, as opposed to No. 1 currently.

There’s nothing to say that Vegas won’t continue to outperform its scoring differential over the second half of the season. But if you’re looking for a reason to say the Knights can’t keep up this pace, this is some evidence.

Photos of the day

Outdoor games might not make for great hockey, but they sure look pretty.

The Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers play in the NHL Winter Classic at Citi Field in New York City on Jan. 1.Bruce Bennett /
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Fans brave the cold at the NHL Winter Classic in New York City on Jan. 1.Bruce Bennett /
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Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons hits New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey on Jan. 1.Bruce Bennett /
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Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo celebrates a goal against the New York Rangers on Jan. 1.Bruce Bennett /
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New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller celebrates his game-winning overtime goal on Jan. 1.Bruce Bennett /
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At nationalpost.com

• Could the Senators really trade Erik Karlsson? Can Shapovalov reclaim the form that propelled him to wins over Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last summer? And will Canada’s tennis darling ever find a hat that fits his head? Scott Stinson ponders the questions that will shape sports in 2018, from the continued reinvention of the Raptors and LeBron James’ next personal free-agent frenzy to the odds the Patriots win another Super Bowl. (It’s probably going to happen.)

• Team Canada is not only bigger, faster and stronger than Switzerland at the world junior hockey championships — they also shoot, pass and “do everything” better. Don’t take it from us: those are the words of Swiss head coach Christian Wohlwend, whose remarkably honest take on his team’s chances in this afternoon’s quarterfinal left the Canadian players puzzled and amused. Now, writes Michael Traikos, Canada’s challenge is to avoid being lulled into a false sense of security.

When my assistant said there was a call from the White House, I picked up, said 'Hello' and started to ask if this was a prank

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